Israel/Lebanon Quickhits
Israel has been dropping leaflets in a southern Beirut suburb called Hizbullah's stronghold, possibly presaging bombing of the capitol.
The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution regarding Israeli actions in Gaza. The US was the sole no vote, 10 voted for, 1 abstention.
Iran warns Israel not to attack Syria.
NBC reported that "so far" (their words) 50 have died and 120 have been wounded on the Lebanese side of the border.
(And it's probably time for the "AIPAC Challenge" again. Can anybody find any negative statements against Israel by any US national politician? Extra points for a "major" or 2008 presidential aspirant. No prize, just a thought experiment on the state of our democracy.)
"For your own safety and because of our desire not to harm any civilians who are not involved (with Hizbollah), you should refrain from staying in areas where Hizbollah is present and operating," said the Arabic-language leaflets, signed "The State of Israel".
The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution regarding Israeli actions in Gaza. The US was the sole no vote, 10 voted for, 1 abstention.
Iran warns Israel not to attack Syria.
NBC reported that "so far" (their words) 50 have died and 120 have been wounded on the Lebanese side of the border.
(And it's probably time for the "AIPAC Challenge" again. Can anybody find any negative statements against Israel by any US national politician? Extra points for a "major" or 2008 presidential aspirant. No prize, just a thought experiment on the state of our democracy.)
posted by mikevotes at
6:26 PM
5 Comments:
If the US don't reign in this renegade state, the whole of the Mid East will go up.
All our troops there will find themselves in a worse situation than now.
It is sheer madness to allow or encourage this action.
By
Cartledge, at 7:01 PM
Cartledge, there's much speculation that this is exactly what the Cheney administration want. Having Israel spark a "final showdown" with Syria and Iran would really fit in with the grand plan, now wouldn't it?
But as Suburban Guerrilla said, "god help us all".
By
Greyhair, at 7:28 PM
Which state is that artledge, the Hizballa "state" south of Beirut? That Hamas "state" tucked neatly between Israel and Egypt? ;-)
There's a lot of heated rhetoric floating around, mostly from Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizballa, and even a little bit from Israel. If 10% of what's been promised will acted upon, I would be very surprised. That said, I agree that the situation cannot be ignored and major efforts must be made to calm things down without losing sight of the immediate precursors.
By
Anonymous, at 7:30 PM
Cartledge, the politics of Israel are very complicated in the US. There are tremendous disincentives for politicians to openly criticize them, so any actions to restrain Israel take place behind closed doors.
Greyhair, I don't know if the administration would want that conflict or not. Certainly there are players in the administration that would, (I'm looking at you, Ledeen) but is now the time they would choose to do it?
Just theoretically, it does offer a backdoor into a conflict if it's desired, but we're not really in a position to capitalize. We've got air assets available in theater out the wazoo, but ground assets are really tight.
It would fit in with implementing "the plan" before a "less courageous" administration took over in '08, but there are so many loose ends, China, Russia, Pakistan, N. Korea, that haven't been wrapped up.
My working theory is more that the Iranians chose this time of American exposure, but whether the same folks that "capitalized" on 9-11 to do Iraq might similarly try to capitalize on this.....
Maybe. I just don't know.
James, I think you have a pretty level head on this, but, let me say, I think Israel is tossing more than "even a little bit" of heated rhetoric. That's one of the reasons I usually shy away from this conflict because I don't believe any of the claims of any of the actors.
But, with that exception I gotta say, I do think you're right. We're not at a point of no return by any means. Maybe we can see it, but from where we stand today, Israel still has the ability to let the air out of most of the thing if they want to, as does Hizbullah if they released the prisoners.
Mike
(Did I manage to piss everybody off?)
By
mikevotes, at 9:15 PM
Also, it's amazing to me that the US standing alone against a united, Russia, China, EU, and UN can be presented as "divided" by the NYTimes.
I think the word is isolated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/world/13cnd-reax.html
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 9:18 PM
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